Must a founder feel lifelong commitment to an idea before starting or continuing, or is short-term commitment sufficient?

Mark Suster · published May 1, 2024

The most common way to be wrong on founders is short-termism — backing someone who wants a quick exit rather than a twelve-to-fifteen-year commitment

Quick exits mean investors don't achieve what they set out to achieve; wanting to work on something for twelve to fifteen years is extraordinary and rare

46:06 20VC: Mark Suster on The Biggest Fundraising Lessons for VCs, Why the Correction in Venture is Still to Come, Why Private Equity Will Replace IPOs and M&A as the Exit Path & The Woke Left and a Trump Administration; What Happens?

Harry Stebbings · published May 15, 2024 · hedged

A founder speculating about what they'd do at their next company is a negative signal, because the greatest founders treat one company as the unwavering mission of their life

The founders he points to — Daniel Ek at Spotify, the Collisons at Stripe — built one company as their life's mission

Scope: he asks whether it is wrong of him to expect this

15:37 20VC: Fundraising Wisdom that is Total BS; Dilution, Meeting Associates, Taking the Highest Price, Always Be Raising | Why Second Time Founders Are More Investable & Why Not To Hire People Out of College with Dan Siroker, CEO @ Limitless

Tom Blomfield · published May 13, 2024

Young founders' demand that an idea be their 'life's work' before committing is the wrong frame — the ask is six months of commitment, not a lifetime

He increasingly hears founders refuse to commit because they aren't sure they're passionate enough to spend their life on it

29:04 20VC: Behind the Scenes at Y Combinator: The Interview Process | What the Best & Worst Do in the Program | Do the Best All Raise Pre-Demo Day & YC's Fundraising Advice to Startups | Why the Value is in Application Layer AI with Tom Blomfield

Harry Stebbings · published May 13, 2024

Committing to a startup idea should be treated like dating rather than marriage — nobody should expect lifetime conviction on the first date

Expecting to know your life partner on a first date would be terrifying

29:30 20VC: Behind the Scenes at Y Combinator: The Interview Process | What the Best & Worst Do in the Program | Do the Best All Raise Pre-Demo Day & YC's Fundraising Advice to Startups | Why the Value is in Application Layer AI with Tom Blomfield

Paul Graham · published Apr 2006

A founder's lack of commitment damages a startup long before the founder quits, because everyone who deals with startups senses ambivalence and withholds attention.

Everyone who deals with startups knows how important commitment is, so if they sense you're ambivalent they won't bother with you; determined founders get attention because others expect to deal with them later.

source Ambivalence is sensed by others who withhold attention before a founder actually quits

Paul Graham · published Apr 2006

Founders who plan to try a startup for a few months and stick with it only if something great happens are unlikely to have anything great happen, because acquirers and investors judge founders by their level of commitment.

Acquirers buy earlier if they believe you'll stick around and grow; investors are driven by fear of missing out, so signalling inevitable success attracts money.

source Half hearted provisional commitment produces no great outcome since others judge founders by commitment level

Paul Graham · published Aug 2007

Saying you'll keep working on the startup while doing something else usually means you've given up without admitting it.

A startup is so hard that working on it can't be preceded by 'but'.

source Hedging with but while continuing elsewhere signals having already given up

Paul Graham · published Aug 2007

While running a startup, founders should avoid graduate school and other side projects, since distraction is fatal and going (back) to school is a huge predictor of startup death.

Distraction is fatal, and school also gives you something else to say you're doing, so failure can be euphemized instead of being your own.

source Maintaining side projects or returning to school euphemizes giving up and predicts death